The Euro Crime Favourite Reads of 2012

I've asked the recent contributors to Euro Crime to choose their favourite European reads of 2012 and a total of 71 titles have been submitted. The following favourites come from the lists submitted by: Mark Bailey, Maxine Clarke, Amanda Gillies, JF, Terry Halligan, Lynn Harvey, Sarah Hilary, Geoff Jones, Michelle Peckham, Norman Price, Laura Root and myself. The breakdown by reviewer, with additional recommendations and any additional comments they have made, can be found here. Quotes are taken from the Euro Crime reviews.

The most mentioned titles are:

3 votes:

Last Will by Liza Marklund tr. Neil Smith

Liza Marklund has [] said that it doesn't matter in which order you read her Annika Bengtzon books as she herself doesn't write them in chronological order, having started with the "fourth" in terms of journalist Annika Bengtzon's life and career. LAST WILL is the sixth in the series to be translated into English, this time by the sure skills of Neil Smith. And I say too – read them in whatever order you like, but do read them. Not least this nail-biter, LAST WILL.

2 votes:

The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri tr. Stephen Sartarelli

THE POTTER'S FIELD is an excellent book. All the familiar characters are here, but events have taken a darker turn. Salvo is feeling his age, and with reason is increasingly depressed about the state of his beautiful country and the way in which it is ruined by politicians and gangsters alike. The novel is more than a crime novel - though the plot is very clever and convoluted, because of the way Salvo decides to proceed with it - it is a meditation on getting older, on failing powers, and on the uncertain future we all face.

The Summer of Dead Toys by Antonio Hill tr. Laura McGoughlin

THE SUMMER OF DEAD TOYS is the best Spanish crime novel I've read. Structured round a classic police procedural plot, the author exposes some of the baser aspects of human nature as he peels off the layers of respectability of a group of privileged high-society types. At the same time, his protagonist, Inspector Héctor Sagaldo, has issues of his own to cope with - issues that result in an atmosphere of vague menace that pervades the book and culminates in a shock ending. All set in the blistering heat of Barcelona, a town that comes alive in this absorbing narrative.

7 Days by Deon Meyer tr. K L Seegers

I always look forward to a new novel by Deon Meyer, and his latest, 7 DAYS, is a perfect example of why he is, in my opinion, one of the very best crime fiction authors in the world today...7 DAYS is a marvellous crime novel which must be a strong contender for best crime novel of 2012.

Another Time, Another Life by Leif G W Persson tr. Paul Norlen

This is a quite remarkable book on several levels. ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER LIFE succeeds as a meticulous police procedural, deftly combining multiple timelines and details of investigations into a coherent whole, written from the point of view of several police officers in a manner reminiscent of Ed McBain or Joseph Wambaugh...I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the darker side of Swedish political and government life in the post-Palme era, or who simply fancies a meatier, skilfully crafted police procedural with political elements. I thoroughly look forward to reading other books by this writer.

Bed of Nails by Antonin Varenne tr. Sian Reynolds

It is a powerful and original debut crime story, definitely one for Vargas fans to try, and I very much hope that there is more Varenne crime fiction to come. I will be waiting, with bated breath, my hands over my eyes and peeking through my fingers, as I watch his next story unfold.

The most mentioned authors (irrespective of title) are:

3 votes:

Liza Marklund
Deon Meyer

2 votes:

Andrea Camilleri
Antonio Hill
Peter May
Jo Nesbo
Leif G W Persson
Antonin Varenne

The most mentioned translators are:

4 votes:

Neil Smith (Mons Kallentoft, Liza Marklund)

3 votes:

Don Bartlett (K O Dahl, Jo Nesbo)
Stephen Sartarelli (Andrea Camilleri, Marco Vichi)
K L Seegers (Deon Meyer)

2 votes:

Laura McGoughlin (Antonio Hill)
Paul Norlen (Leif G W Persson)
Sian Reynolds (Antonin Varenne)

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - JF

We've now reached the final instalment of the Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2012. Here are JF's favourite Euro Crime titles:

Three of my favourite Euro crime reads made it into my Top 5 of 2012 at Raven Crime Reads:

Damien Seaman's The Killing of Emma Gross was a brilliant imagining of a real life German serial killer Peter Kurten, with a wonderful attention to historical detail and a pithy wit.

John J Niven's Cold Hands was a visceral thriller combining the filmic genius of Tarantino with the earthy writing of Irvine Welsh and was a read best avoided by the faint-hearted!

Topping my list was Antonin Varenne's Bed of Nails tr. Sian Reynolds, a remarkable French literary thriller that had a lyrical beauty seldom observed in the crime thriller genre, in addition to its taut and utterly compelling plot.

In addition to these three, I would also single out Dan Smith's The Child Thief an intriguing mystery set in the Ukraine and perfect for readers of Tom Rob Smith and William Ryan and my final little gem of the year was Maxime Chattam's Carnage, tr. Isabel Reid and Emily Boyce, a lesson in how to write brilliant crime fiction in a very condensed form.

It's now time for me to combine everyone's lists and see which authors/titles/translators are mentioned the most.

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - Terry

We've now reached the penultimate instalment of the Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2012. Here are Terry Halligan's favourite Euro Crime titles, in the order provided. He says that he "had an extraordinarily difficult time deciding what to keep in and leave out":

Top 5 Historical Mysteries

1. A Lily Of The Field by John Lawton
A stunningly detailed further novel from this very under publicised writer who writes sort of police procedurals in and around the Second World War and should be more widely appreciated.

2. The Final Sacrament by James Forrester
The final book of the Clarenceux trilogy set in Tudor England after the dissolution

3. Dorchester Terrace by Anne Perry
The 27th story in the Inspector Pitt Victorian mysteries and the quality is still as high here as in her first.

4. The Piccadilly Plot by Susanna Gregory
The seventh Thomas Chaloner murder mystery set in Restoration London, involving threats of assassination, a stolen corpse and a scheme to frame the Queen for treason.

5. Tom-All-Alone's by Lynn Shepherd
Takes place in the 'space between' two masterpieces of mid-Victorian fiction: Bleak House and The Woman in White.

Top 5 Non-Historical Mysteries

1. A Question Of Inheritance by Josephine Bell
A cot death--unexpected and shocking. Especially for the mother,who has to start a subterfuge which lasts until 22 years later when an unexpected death starts a series of difficult questions

2. Who Pays The Piper by Mackenzie Smith
Incredible military mystery that occurs in Sierra Leone in 1999 that is authentic, gritty and almost unputdownable.

3. Siege by Simon Kernick
A gritty and violent thriller about a West End of London hotel attacked by Al-Qaeda

4. The Dying Minutes by Martin O'Brien
Exciting police procedural set in Marseilles, France about a gold bullion robbery in 1972.

5. False Friends by Stephen Leather
Following the death of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, Leathers protagonist Dan 'Spider' Shepherd is protecting the students who provided the details to MI5 of Osama's location but there are those who want to kill them.

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - Sarah

Continuing the series of Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2012 here are Sarah Hilary's favourite Euro Crime titles:

1. The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
2. Finders Keepers by Belinda Bauer
3. To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey
4. What Lies Within by Tom Vowler (released Apr. 13)
5. Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - Mark

Continuing the series of Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2012 here are Mark Bailey's favourite Euro Crime and/or translated titles:

Of the new releases in 2012 (either in paperback or hardback), I would strongly recommend (in alphabetical order by author as I don’t want to choose an order):

Fowler, Christopher – BRYANT & MAY AND THE INVISIBLE CODE (10^th novel about Arthur Bryant, John May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit - another strong Bryant & May novel with a very intricate plot with lots of twists and turns; some new characters (some of which are almost fantastical) are introduced to set up for the future which he has got a 2 book deal for starting with BRYANT & MAY AND THE BLEEDING HEART).

James, Peter - NOT DEAD YET  (8^th Detective Superintendent Roy Grace novel)

Nesbo, Jo – THE BAT tr. Don Bartlett (the 1^st Harry Hole novel chronologically – it was nice to see the back plot to the later novels explored in more depth.

Rankin, Ian - STANDING IN ANOTHER MAN'S GRAVE (Rebus is back – I read it in a day and loved it)

Robinson, Peter – BEFORE THE POISON (not a DCI Banks book but it takes the well-used idea of somebody becoming obsessed with solving a decades-old murder and executes it very well)

Other 2012 releases that had good points were:

• McKinty, Adrian - THE COLD COLD GROUND (the 1^st Sean Duffy novel set in 1980s Northern Ireland; yes I am biased as I go past most of the places in this novel on my train to work every day but this is an assured police procedural in the main - the next book (I HEAR THE SIRENS IN THE STREET) is just out as I write and if it is just a tad better then that is one of my 2013 best reads sorted)
• Staincliffe, Cath - DEAD TO ME (the 1st Scott and Bailey tie-in novel by Cath Staincliffe; yes this is a tv tie-on but it captures the characters and is compellingly written)
• Tursten, Helene - NIGHT ROUNDS tr. Laura A Wideburg (the 4th Irene Huss novel; this is a good novel but I have seen the first 6 Swedish TV movie adaptions so I spoilt it for myself).
• Wanner, Len - THE CRIME INTERVIEWS VOLUMES ONE AND TWO (These are available most easily for Kindles but if you like tartan noir, they are a good insight into how authors minds work as they have interviews with 19 crime writers between the two volumes)

‘Blasts from the past’ series reread or read for the first time in 2012 are:

• Crispin, Edmund - the Gervase Fen series (I re-read these in the Summer. They are whodunit novels with complex plots written in a humorous, literary style with references to English literature, poetry, and music; my favourites are THE MOVING TOYSHOP (1946) and FREQUENT HEARSES (1950) – it is a crying shame that Crispin went 25 years between the penultimate and the last novel in the series).
• Burley, W J – the Wycliffe series (I remember the tv series with Jack Shepherd well and recently bought them on DVD but had never read the books; yes they are dated and even the later ones read like those written in the 1970s (they were 22 written from 1968 to 2000) but they are also tightly plotted concisely written books with a great sense of place and a complex main character)
• Edwards, Martin – the Lake District Mystery series (these were a new read for me and as said elsewhere on the website these are very classy page turners with a good sense of history and the area it is set in – the English Lake District)
• Harvey. John – the Charlie Resnick series (I am just over halfway through re-reading this quality police procedural series set in Nottingham in the late 1980s and 1990s in the main – the last one was published a decade later in 2008)

Again, they reflect in the main my liking for police procedurals.

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - Amanda

Continuing the series of Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2012 here are Amanda Gillies's favourite Euro Crime and/or translated titles:

1) Hit and Run by Doug Johnstone

2) The Lewis Man by Peter May

3) The Key by Simon Toyne

4) I Remember you by Yrsa Sigurdardottir tr. Philip Roughton

5) Roman Games by Bruce Macbain

"Another year chock full of fantastic books! Once again it has been hard to narrow down my long list of favourites to a top 5 but here it is. The list is in order of preference. Some books just grab you and don’t let go. These five are all guilty of messing with my head and I still think of HIT AND RUN when walking through Holyrood Park. Fabulous".

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - Geoff

Continuing the series of Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2012 here are Geoff Jones's favourite Euro Crime and/or translated titles, in the order he listed them:

Proof of Life by Karen Campbell
Bitter Water by Gordon Ferris
Fault Line by Robert Goddard
Scratch Deeper by Chris Simms
Never Apologise, Never Explain by James Craig

"Just missing the top 5 were Denise Mina, Jim Kelly, David Mark and Jason Webster".

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - Lynn

Continuing the series of Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2012 here are Lynn Harvey's favourite Euro Crime and/or translated titles:

Sweetness of Life by Paulus Hochgatterer tr. Jaime Bulloch
Labyrinth of Osiris by Paul Sussman
Bed of Nails by Antonin Varenne tr. Sian Reynolds
Death in Sardinia by Marco Vichi tr Stephen Sartarelli
Murder on the 31st Floor by Per Wahloo tr. Sarah Death

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - Norman

Continuing the series of Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2012 here are Norman Price's favourite Euro Crime and/or translated titles, in the order he listed them:

The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri tr. Stephen Sartarelli

At last the old maestro win the CWA International Dagger with his usual mixture of mafia, sex, humour and intrigue.

Another Time, Another Life by Leif G W Persson tr. Paul Norlen

Another veteran crime writer with the second book in a trilogy that covers 25 years full of events, from the seizing of the West German Embassy in 1975 by terrorists, to a murder in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening of the Stasi records, to a reopening of the case in 1999/2000. Facts,satire, humour, mystery and some strong female characters to go along with Persson's usually obnoxious policemen.

The Blind Goddess by Anne Holt tr. Tom Geddes

My discovery of the year, the Hanne Wilhelmsen series.

Last Will by Liza Marklund tr. Neil Smith

Annika Bengtzon, the most popular and attractive journalist in Scandinavia continues the struggle to balance her career and family. In this brilliant book the reader learns about Alfred Nobel, his prize, how a media outlet is organised, and tales of scientific rivalry. No wonder Liza Marklund was one of Maxine's favourite authors.

Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst

One of Furst's other wartime thrillers, Spies of Warsaw, is being televised at the moment, starring David Tennant.

Spies of the Balkans is a superbly crafted story of Costa Zannis, a detective in Salonika who deals with political cases, in late 1940. It is the story of a society under tremendous pressure, war , intrigue, Nazis, spies, coup d'etats and escaping Jews all blended in with some historical information and a love story. At the very end of the novel Alan Furst puts in a lovely little unexpected twist, which can almost, but not quite make you forget what really happened to Salonika's ancient Jewish population during the war.

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - Laura

Continuing the series of Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2012 here are Laura Root's favourite Euro Crime and/or translated titles, in the order she listed them:

I would like to dedicate my top 5 of 2012 to Maxine, as without Maxine's gentle encouragement I would never have had the confidence to review for Euro Crime.

Ashes by Sergios Gakas tr Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife
The Hour of the Wolf by Hakan Nesser tr Laurie Thompson
The Nameless Dead by Brian McGilloway
The Summer of Dead Toys by Antonio Hill tr Laura McGoughlin
The Eyes of Lira Kazan by Eva Joly & Judith Perrignon tr Emily Read

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - Michelle

Continuing the series of Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2012 here are Michelle Peckham's favourite Euro Crime and/or translated titles, in the order she listed them:

Last Will by Liza Marklund tr. Neil Smith
Interesting link to Nobel Prizes, and biological scientists at the Karolinska Institute. A book that actually manages to depict science relatively accurately.

Temporary Perfections by Gianrico Carofiglio tr. Antony Shugaar
A favourite author of mine, his books feature the lawyer Guido Guerrieri, and in this one, he is set to work as an investigator, to find out what happened to a missing girl. The investigation plays a minor role, compared to his descriptions of discussions with friends, his response to the temptation of a pretty girl and general musings on his life.

The Chessmen by Peter May
Final book in a trilogy, Finn Macleod is living on Lewis, with a few last secrets to uncover from his childhood days there.

Deon Meyer (Blood Safari, 7 Days, Devil’s Peak, Trackers, Dead at Daybreak, Dead before Dying and Thirteen Hours). All different, all set in South Africa and all very satisfying reads - when I pushed her to choose one for my compilation list, Michelle replied: A hard choice, but I think probably Blood Safari (tr. K L Seegers), with the interesting bodyguard character (Lemmer) protecting Emma le Roux from some unknown potential danger, while she tries to find her missing brother, taking them all the way out to Limpopo, and against a background of corruption and poaching.

The Garnethill Trilogy by Denise Mina
An unlikely heroine, Maureen wakes up after a drunken night out to discover her boyfriend, dead in the flat with his throat cut. This starts a series of 3 books that follow up on Maureen’s determination to get to the bottom of stuff, and a great Glasgow setting

Ghostheart by R J Ellory
Despite the bad press for Ellory, I really like his novels, and this one was no exception. Features Annie, who runs a bookshop, and her discovery of the life she never knew.

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2012 - Maxine

I wanted to include Maxine's favourite reads in the Euro Crime compilation of favourite reads of 2012. Fortunately, she filled in a star rating on her Goodreads account and on her blog. There is a slight difference between the two sources but I've gone with the GR rating. I accept between 5 and 10 books per reviewer as their top reads. These are only Euro Crime/translation related titles. Four of the seven are Scandinavian titles and six of the seven are in translation. Links are to her reviews on Euro Crime or Petrona.

Maxine's Favourite Reads of 2012 (Five Stars on Goodreads)

Thomas Enger - Pierced tr, Charlotte Barslund (Petrona)

Nicci French - Tuesday's Gone (Petrona)

Arnaldur Indridason - Black Skies tr. Victoria Cribb

Dominique Manotti - Lorraine Connection tr. Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz (Petrona)

Liza Marklund - Last Will tr. Neil Smith (Petrona)

Deon Meyer - 7 Days tr. K L Seegers

Leif G W Persson - Another Time, Another Life tr. Paul Norlen (Petrona)

My Favourite Reads of 2012

I continue to read mostly international crime fiction, so again most of my favourite reads of 2012 are in translation. The standout book for me was the CWA International Dagger Award-winning The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri tr. Stephen Sartarelli.

My favourite reads of 2012

Andrea Camilleri - The Potter's Field  tr. Stephen Sartarelli

K O Dahl - Lethal Investments tr. Don Bartlett

Andrea Gillies - The White Lie

Antonio Hill - The Summer of Dead Toys tr. Laura McGoughlin

Mons Kallentoft - Midwinter Sacrifice tr. Neil Smith

Deon Meyer - 7 Days tr K L Seegers

Jo Nesbo - Phantom tr. Don Bartlett

Johan Theorin - The Quarry tr.  Marlaine Delargy

Euro Crime reviewers favourite reads of 2011

I've asked the recent contributors to Euro Crime to choose their five favourite European reads of 2011 and a total of 73 titles have been submitted. The following favourites come from the lists submitted by: Pat Austin, Mark Bailey, Maxine Clarke, Amanda Gillies, Terry Halligan, Lynn Harvey, Sarah Hilary, Geoff Jones, Michelle Peckham, Norman Price, Laura Root, Rich Westwood, Susan White and myself (there is some overlap with the 2010 favourites):

The most mentioned titles are:

4 votes:
Jussi-Adler Olsen - Mercy, tr. Lisa Hartford

3 votes
Asa Larsson - Until Thy Wrath Be Past, tr. Laurie Thompson
Jo Nesbo - The Leopard, tr. Don Bartlett

2 votes:
Thomas Enger - Burned, tr. Charlotte Barslund
Arnaldur Indridason - Outrage, tr. Anna Yates
Hakan Nesser - The Inspector and Silence, tr. Laurie Thompson
Johan Theorin - The Quarry, tr. Marlaine Delargy
Fred Vargas - An Uncertain Place, tr. Sian Reynolds

The most mentioned authors (irrespective of title) are:

4 votes:
Jussi Adler-Olsen
Jo Nesbo
Fred Vargas

3 votes
Asa Larsson
Hakan Nesser

2 votes:
Alison Bruce
Thomas Enger
Arnaldur Indridason
Laurie R King
Roslund-Hellstrom
Johan Theorin

The most mentioned translators are:

6 votes:
Laurie Thompson

5 votes:
Lisa Hartford/Tiina Nunnally

4 votes:
Don Bartlett
Sian Reynolds

3 votes:
Marlaine Delargy

2 votes:
Charlotte Barslund
Neil Smith
Anna Yates

The breakdown by reviewer, with additional recommendations and any additional comments they have made, can be found on the website.

New Reviews: Becker, Bruce, Dahl, Ferris, Griffiths, Tallis & Reviewers' Top 5s

As well as 6 new reviews, I have uploaded the Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2011, by reviewer. Tomorrow I will announce the favourite book, favourite author and favourite translator of 2011 (based on the aforementioned submissions!).

The competition's still open: win Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley (no geographical restrictions).

Here are this week's reviews:

Amanda Gillies reviews the latest from James Becker, The Nosferatu Scroll (or The Vampires of Venice for Dr Who fans...?) which continues the high standard of the earlier books;

Alison Bruce's, third DC Goodhew book, The Calling is listed in Susan White's 5 favourite reads of 2011;

Laura Root reviews K O Dahl's Lethal Investments, tr. Don Bartlett which is the first in the Oslo-based Gunnarstranda and Frohlich series;

Terry Halligan reviews Gordon Ferris's post World War II set Truth Dare Kill the first in the Danny McRae series;

Maxine Clarke reviews the fourth and latest in the increasingly popular Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths: A Room Full of Bones set in North Norfolk

and Lynn Harvey reviews Frank Tallis's Death and the Maiden the sixth in this historical series set in Vienna, which is now available in paperback.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here and new titles by Patti Battison, Rhys Bowen, Gyles Brandreth, C S Challinor, Cassandra Clark, Rory Clements, Julie Corbin, Peter James, Cottrell Howard Cunnell, Maurizio De Giovanni, Diego De Silva, Mark Douglas-Home, Nicci French, Alex Grecian, J M Gregson, Patricia Hall, C S Harris, Elizabeth Haynes, Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson, Roderic Jeffries, Laurie R King, Bernard Knight, Peter Lovesey, Faith Martin, Susan Moody, Amy Myers, Chris Nickson, Chris Pavone, Caro Peacock, Anne Perry, Oliver Potzsch, Jutta Profijt, Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Linda Regan, Eileen Robertson, Rosemary Rowe, Pauline Rowson, Kate Sedley, Frank Smith, James Thompson, Rebecca Tope, Louise Welsh, Andrew Williams and Simon Wood have been added to these pages this week.

My Top 5 favourite reads of 2011

Crime-wise I still read about 98% translated so it's no surprise my top five favourite crime novels that I read this year, are all translated crime novels though I'm more surprised that they are all Scandinavian. The pie charts I posted recently show that the translated crime scene is dominated by Swedish authors at the moment.

Top 5

Jussi Adler-Olsen - Mercy (apa The Keeper of Lost Causes) tr. Lisa Hartford (2011)
Anne Holt - Fear Not tr. Marlaine Delargy (2011)
Asa Larsson - Until Thy Wrath be Past tr. Laurie Thompson (2011)
Jo Nesbo - The Leopard tr. Don Bartlett (2011)
Roslund-Hellstrom - Three Seconds tr. Kari Dickson (2010)

Runner-up

Sergios Gakas - Ashes tr. Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife (2011)

There were some other books that I enjoyed very much and for which I have devised new awards:

The "mad as a box of frogs" award goes to...

Donato Carrisi for The Whisperer tr. Shaun Whiteside (2010)
A compulsive read, quite gory with a great twisty ending but goes deep into woo-woo territory near the end.

The "Keyser Soze" award - for an ending you'll never guess goes to the non-Euro Crime...

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino tr. Alexander O Smith & Elye J Alexander (2011)

and lastly,

The "David Attenborough" award for the most scientific information you can shoehorn into a crime novel goes to...

Sissel-Jo Gazan for The Dinosaur Feather, tr. Charlotte Barslund

Despite my flippant categories, I enjoyed and do recommend these last 3 books for something a bit different!

Euro Crime reviewers favourite reads of 2010

I've asked the recent contributors to Euro Crime to choose their five favourite European reads of 2010 and a total of 45 titles have been submitted. The following favourites come from the lists submitted by: Pat Austin, Maxine Clarke, Amanda Gillies, Terry Halligan, Geoff Jones, Michelle Peckham, Norman Price, Laura Root and myself (there is some overlap with the 2009 favourites):

The most mentioned titles are:

3 votes:
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest tr. Reg Keeland

2 votes:
Arnaldur Indridason - Hypothermia tr. Victoria Cribb
Jo Nesbo - The Redeemer tr. Don Bartlett

The most mentioned authors (irrespective of title) are:

4 votes:
Stieg Larsson
Jo Nesbo

2 votes:
Karen Campbell
Elly Griffiths
Arnaldur Indridason
Sjowall & Wahloo

The most mentioned translators are:

5 votes:
Reg Keeland/Steven T Murray

4 votes:
Don Bartlett

2 votes:
Victoria Cribb
Marlaine Delargy

The breakdown by reviewer plus any additional comments they have made, can be found on the website.

Favourite Reads of 2010

My personal favourite reads of 2010 are all translated crime which is about 98% of what I read, so it is not surprising, nor that there's a heavy overlap with the International Dagger shortlist.

European Favourites

Tonino Benacquista - Badfellas
Arnaldur Indridason - Hypothermia
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - My Soul to Take
Johan Theorin - The Darkest Room

Non-European favourites

Deon Meyer - Thirteen Hours
Claudia Pineiro - Thursday Night Widows

Runners-up include the audio books of Camilla Lackberg's The Preacher and The Stonecutter and Marek Krajewski's Phantoms of Breslau.

Euro Crime reviewers favourite reads of 2009

I've asked the recent contributors to Euro Crime to choose their five favourite European reads of 2009 and a total of 60 different titles have been submitted. The following favourites come from the lists submitted by: Pat Austin, Amanda Brown, Maxine Clarke, Amanda Gillies, Terry Halligan, Geoff Jones, Michelle Peckham, Norman Price, Laura Root, Rik Shepherd and myself:

The most mentioned titles are:

3 votes:
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played With Fire tr. Reg Keeland

2 votes:
Karin Alvtegen - Shadow tr. McKinley Burnett
Andrea Camilleri - The Paper Moon tr. Stephen Sartarelli
Hans Fallada - Alone in Berlin tr. Michael Hofmann
Arnaldur Indridason - Hypothermia tr. Victoria Cribb
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest tr. Reg Keeland
Jo Nesbo - The Redeemer tr. Don Bartlett

The most mentioned authors (irrespective of title) are:

6 votes:
Stieg Larsson

3 votes:
Karin Alvtegen
Andrea Camilleri
Arnaldur Indridason
Jo Nesbo

2 votes:
Ann Cleeves
Ariana Franklin
John Lawton

The most mentioned translators are:

8 votes:
Reg Keeland/McKinley Burnett

4 votes:
Don Bartlett

The breakdown by reviewer plus any additional comments they have made, will be uploaded to the website soon.

Favourite Reads/Listens of 2009

I've been reading crime fiction for several decades now and in 2009 I felt in need of a recharge so I didn't keep up with all the latest and greatest crime releases last year; I read some non-crime, some non-fiction and of course some teenage fiction for my other blog. I think it has helped and I now feel re-enthusiastic about my crime!

The aggregrated list of euro crime reviewers's favourite reads of last year will appear soon but here are my top 5 euro crime reads/listens, the links go to related posts on the blog:

Andrea Camilleri - August Heat
Arnaldur Indridason - Silence of the Grave (audio)
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played with Fire
Alexander McCall Smith - Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (audio)
Jon Stock - Dead Spy Running (audio)

(My favourite teenage reads can be found here.)